Internal-combustion-engine lubrication system



1,640,856 AUS 30 1927' R. l-. sKlNNER INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE LUBRICATON SYSTEM Filed Aug. '7, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 z ni l 1,640,856 A118 30', 19.27' R. L. SKINNER INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE LUBRICATION SYSTEM Filed Aug. 7, 1926 2 Sheets-Shoot 2 Patented Aug. 30, 1927.

UNITED STATES A 1,640,856 PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH L. SKINNER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR lT0 SKINNER AUTOMOTIVE DEVICE C0., INC., OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA.

IN'TERNAL-COMBUSTION-ENGINE LUBRICATION SYSTEM.

Application filed August 7, 1926. Serial No. 127,813.

I have heretofore invented and patented a lubrication rectification system for internalcombustion engines wherein fluids are withdrawn or removed from circumferential grooves around the engine pistons through ports in the engine cylinder side-walls with which such grooves and extensions thereof disposed longitudinally ofthe pistons come intermittently or interruptedly into register, such abstracted', impure oil being rectified or freed from its polluting constituents in a suitable separator or purifier wherein the contaminated lubricant is subjected to subatmospheric pressure and, preferably, also simultaneously to heat, the reclaimed oil being returned to the engine crank-case for reuse.

Such appliances, formerly, have required extensions on the skirts of the pistons in register with and designed to cover the cylinder wall ports When the piston skirts during their upward movements ascended beyond the ports, as otherwise the latter would be uncovered, and, in those instances, where the suctionA existing in the engine intakemanifold is employed to withdraw the fluids, including the oil, from the piston grooves through the cylinder ports into the rectifier or purifier, the Carburation or gaseous mixture in the manifold would be interfered with and disadvantageously affect the smooth and proper running of the motor.

Such piston skirt extensions or narrow prolongations have certain objections, in

' some cases, and I have discovered that these parts of the pistons may be left olf or eliminated, provided the one or more passages through the conduit or conduits connecting the cylinder ports to the purifier are made smallenough and yet of sufficient size, and the cylinder ports thus protected may be permitted to be uncovered or unclosed by the pistons during portions of the strokes of the latlter without encountering detrimental resu ts.

The same general plan of .construction may also be used to advantage in Knighttype of engines in which each cylinder has one or more ported movable sleeves controlling the intake of the gaseous mixture and the delivery or discharge of the exploded gases.

To enable those skilled and trained in this art to understand the inventionv and its resulting advantages, I have shown it applied entrance; and

to both styles of engines in the accompany-f ing drawings forming a part of this specication, and throughout the several views of which like reference characters have been employed to designate the same structural parts.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary, sectional view through one cylinder of a multi-cylinder internal-combustion engine 'of the poppetvalve type fitted with the new system incorporatmg-the present invention;

Figure 2 is 'an enlarged, small section through the cylinder port and the adjacent portion of the piston;

Figure 3 is a similar fragmentary section through the opposite part of the' piston showing the air-inlet or bleeder port for the piston oil groove;

Figure 4 is a vertical section through one cylinder of a Knight engine showing the nvention applied thereto;

Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary section through the inner sleeve and the adjoining part of the piston; f

Figure 6 is a sim1lar section through the opposite part of the piston showing the airadmission opening for the piston o1l groove;

Figure 7 is a face View of the metered holel through the inner sleeve and its enlarged Figure 8 is a face view of the elongated slot through the outer sleeve. y

Referring vfirst to the species shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, it will be perceived that the water-jacketed cylinder "11 accommodates the reciprocatory piston 12 wit-l1 which the usual connecting-rod 13 is rockin ly associated in the customary manner, 51e engine having a Afuel-intake-manifold 14 joined to the carbureter, (not shown), and an exhaust-manifold 15, the exhaust-.valve 16 being illustrated, but the inlet-valve for the cylinder is not depicted.

As is more clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3, the piston 12 has a shallow, horizontal, circumferential, oil-collecting groove 17 around its periphery at any convenient location, but preferably, as in the present instance, between two of the usual piston-rings 18, 18, such groove or channel '17 at one point having a small, air-inlet port or passage 19 extended inwardly therefrom through the piston wall to its hollow intel i through it at a with a threaded hole or port 21 therecation with the interior of the engine cranky through in which is fitted an angular-headed screw 22 which 'holds in place, between its head 23 andthe adjacent surface of a boss 24 cast integral with the cylinder wall 11,

a flattened tubular manifold 25, which is.

common to and similarly connected to all of the engine cylinders.

Washers `or gaskets 26 and 27 are positioned on opposite sides of the manifold, as is fully illustrated.

Screw 22 has a cross hole 28 extended position to connect at both ends with the interior of t-he manifold and at its middle with a lengthwise central passage 29 in the screw.

Such screw at 4the end of passage 29 is fitted with a plug 31 held firmly in place by friction in the cavity 29 and supplied with a carefully metered small hole or port 32 therethrough which establishes communication between a conical or iiaring mouth or entrance 33, provided in the end of the screw and plug for a purpose hereinafter indicated, and the passage 29.

Suchport 21, through the side-wall of the cylinder, is so located, that, as the piston approaches, passes, and recedes from its lower dead-center, its oil groove 17 will be in communication with the port 21 for a Substantial period of time, in the present instance, a period representing the turning 'of-the engine crank-shaft through about 35 degrees.

The manifold 25 is connected by a pipe or tube 34 to a passage 35 in the horizontal, division wall 36 of an oil purifier or rectifier of known construction having abov'ethe division-wall a separating or vaporizing chamber 37 'formed by a shell 38 and below the division-wall an oil-storage compartment 39 formed by an externally ribbed or finned shell 41.

This partition-wall 36 has a central passage 42 connected by a tube 43 to the intakemanifold, wherebythe rectifier and its connections are subjected to subatmospheric pressure. f j

The interiorof the lrectifier is supplied. with baffles 44, 45 and 46 and thefdivision wall is equipped with ports, valves, thermostat etc., while the lower chamber has a float 47 connected to operate the valves in known manner, the lower part of the storage-compartment having a'discharge-pipe 48, fitted with a ball check-valve 49, for delivering the reclaimed oil intermittently back to the engine crank-case, without interrupting the continuous suction in the upper vaporizing 0r rectifying chamber 37, the latter being heated to aid the gasification of the volatilizable ingredients of the impure oil by a portion of the hot exhaust gases of the engine flowing through a jacket 51 surrounding or encasing the upper portion only of the rectifier'. v

This rectifier is of well-known structure and is now on the market so that its details need not be presented here.

The operation of the appliance is substantially as follows:

During that period of time that the piston-groove 17 is in register with the cylinder-port 21, the snot-ion exerted through pipe 34 and the rectifier withdraws the liquid and gaseous contents of such piston channe which action is facilitated by the 'air entery ing the groove through the air-port 19, so that the oil in the piston groove, rendered more or less impure by some of the fuel in liquid or gaseous form Aand some of the products of combustion which reach the groovev in their downward passage around the piston, fier where the oil is purified under heat and suction by being freed from its volatile inthe intake-manifold and are consumed in the engine. The reclaimed or purified oil passes down into the storage-compartment of the recti-' fier from which it is discharged automatically interruptedly into the crank-case.

For a part of the time theA cylinder-port 21 is closed by the skirt of the piston and for a portion of the time such port is unis aerated and delivered into the rectil -gredicnts which flow from the rectifier into 4 covered due to the piston skirt passing upwardly beyond it. No harm results from such free opening of the port because the metered hole 32 is of such size that the air passing therethrough is sufficiently small in volume as4 not to upset the carburetion. I During the running of the engine, oil a'ccumulates in the enlarged orconical entrance33, and, when the piston uncovers the cylinder-port, this oil is drawnl through the metered hole or aperture, but due to the resistance which such oil encounters in flowing through such a small hole, no excessive amount of air is permitted to pass through with it.

Thus the oil limits or restricts the quantity of air which can enter the system through the cylinder-port by blocking the hole or aperture more or less by reason of its resistance to such action or travel.

Ordinarily, the small or metered hole 32 should be located in the system 'as near the piston as practicable, so that, when the cylinder-port is again covered, only a small amount of air will have to be removed from the space between the metered hole and the piston to apply an adequate suction on the piston channel.

In Figures 4 to 8 inclusive, the invention has been shown as incorporated in a sleevetype of internal-combustion motor.

The piston 61 has the same kind of transverse, external, oil-collecting channel 62 equipped with the bleeder or air-inlet port 63 diametrically oppositethe cylinder port continuous communication with the cylinderport.

The cooperating inner sleeve 67 has the metered hole 68 through it which constantly connects with the vcylinder-port through the outer sleeve port, the inner end of the metered hole next to the piston lbeing enlarged and elongated at 69 to prolong the l period the suction is applied to the piston channel and to afford a cavity for the collection of oil from the piston, which oil, as in the previous instance, acts in a measure to clog the metered hole more or less temporarily when the piston uncovers the hole, hence reducing and limiting the amount of air which will be admitted'under such circumstances.

The manner in which this embodiment of the invention operates will be obvious from what precedes and requires no further elucidation.

In both instances, the cylinder and piston, or the cylinder, piston and sleeves, are lubricated in any approved manner, as by the well-known splash system.

It is to be remembered, however, that this invention is not confined to the precise structural details presented and that the invention is susceptible of a variety of embodiments varying in mechanical structure but all incorporating the underlying principles of the invention and having its main or principal benefits and advantages.

I claim:

1. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an enginecylinder, a reciprocatory piston vin said cylinder covering and uncovering a port during its sliding movements, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, and means to remove fluids from around said piston through said port while the latter is covered by the piston, saidA port being open when uncovered by the piston.

2. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine-cylinder, a reciprocatory piston in said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, an koilrectifier, means connecting said rectifier with a port covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, and means connecting said oil-rectifier with the intakemanifold of the engine, whereby the suction therein withdraws fluids from around said piston when the latter covers said port and delivers them into the rectifier, thc connection through said port to 'the rectifier and the intake-manifold being open when the piston uncovers said port but of such re-4 stricted size as not to permit substantial interference with the engine Carburation by the admitted air.

3. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine-cylinder, an externally, transversely, channeled reciprocatory piston in said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, said engine having a port covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, the channel of the latter being in communication with said port when the piston is substantially at its lower dead center, and means to remove the contents of said piston channel through said port when said channel and port are in communication, said port being open when uncovered by said piston.

4. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine-cylinder, a piston reciprocatory in said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, said engine having a port with a flaring mouth covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, and means to remove fluids fromr around said piston through said -f port while the latter is covered by the piston, said port being open when uncovered by the piston.

5. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine cylinder, an externally, transversely, channeled piston reciprocatory in said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, said engine having a port with a flaring mouth covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, the channel of' the latter being in communication with said port when the piston is substantially at its lower'dead center,

and means to remove thel contents of said piston channel through said port when such channel and portare in communication, said port being open when uncovered by said piston.

6. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine-cylinder, an externally, transversely, channeled piston reciprocatory in said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, an oilrectifier, means connecting said rectifier with a port having a flaring mouth covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, and means connecting said oil-rectifier with the intake-manifold of the engine, whereby the suction therein withdraws fluids from said piston channel when the latter is in communication with said port when the piston is substantially at its lower dead center and delivers them into the rectifier, the connec- 'Lion through said port to the rectifier and intake-manifold being open when the piston lUU uncovers said port but of such restricted size as not to permit substantial interference with the engine carburetion by the admitted air.

7. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of a ported engine-cylinder, a

y movable sleeve in said cylinder having a port piston.

8. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of a ported engine-cylinder, a movable sleeve in said cylinder having a port therethrough adapted to communicate with said cylinder port, a reciprocatory piston in said sleeve whose sliding movements cover and uncover said sleeve port, means to lubricate said cylinder, sleeve and piston, and means connecting said cylinder port with the intake-manifold of the engine whose suction removes fluids from around said piston through said sleeve and cylinder ports when the piston covers said sleeve port, the latter being open and in communication with said cylinder-port when uncovered by the piston but of such restricted size as to prevent substantial interference with the engine carburetion by the admitted air.

9. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of a ported engine-cylinder, 'a movable sleeve in said' cylinder, a reciproca'tory piston in said sleeve, said sleeve havt ing a port therethrough adapted to communicate with said cylinder port and having a flaring mouth covered and uncovered by the i sliding movements of'said piston, means to lubricate said cylinder, sleeve and piston, and means to remove fluids from around said piston through said sleeve and cylinder ports when the piston covers said sleeve port, the latter being open andin communication with said cylinder-port when uncovered by the piston.

10. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of a ported engine-cylinder, a movable sleeve in said cylinder, a reciprocatory piston in said sleeve, means to lubrisliding movements of said piston,

lby the admitted cate said cylinder, sleeve and piston, said sleeve having therethrough a port with a flaring mouth covered and uncovered by the said sleeve port being adapted to communicate with said cylinder port, said piston having an external transverse channel which comes into communication with said sleeve port when the piston is substantially at lower dead center, said piston having an air inlet portat a point remote from said sleeve port, an oil-rectifier, means connecting said oil-rectifier to the cylinder port, and means connecting said rectifier with the intake-manifold of the engine whose suction withdraws fluids from said piston channel through said sleeve and cylinder ports into said rectifier, said sleevel port being open and in communication with said cylinder-port when uncovered by the piston but of such restricted size as to prevent substantial interference with the engine carburetion by the admitted air.

11. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination of an engine-cylinder, a reciprocatory piston in said cylinder covering and uncovering a port during its sliding movements, means to lubricate said engine, and means to apply suction to said port to remove fluids from around said piston when the latter covers said port, such port being of suiiciently restricted caliber to limit the amount of air passing therethrough when the port is uncovered by the piston to permit the suction to operate as specified.

the a recipro- 12. In an internal-combustion engine, combination of an engine-cylinder, catory pistonin said cylinder, means to lubricate said cylinder and piston, means connecting the intake-manifold of the engine with a port covered and uncovered by the sliding movements of said piston, whereby the suction of Such manifold withdrawsfluids from around said piston when the latter covers said port, the connection through said port to the intake-manifold being open when the piston uncovers said port but of such restricted size as not to permit substantial interference with the engine carburetion air, and means to return the withdrawn oil to the lubrication system of the engine.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

RALPH L. SKINNER. 

